The Paisley Umbrella: Los Peyotes "Introducing ..."

Although South America was historically far more civilized than the rest of the world historically, A quintet of tooth necklace, fur vest donned cavemen with music as addictive as their name implies crawled out of Argentina and Peru called Los Peyotes. In a fuzz and farfisa fury, this band wowed audiences at The Primitive Festival in Rotterdam this year and are poised to throw everyone back into The Stone Age. This is serious stuff! Although formed in 1996, our friends accross the pond at Dirty Water Records have given them a proper debut with Introducing Los Peyotes. On the release, these guys pump out music that will turn any occasion into an all out Cro-Magnon clubbing for the '60s surf garage rock and punk faithful, but carries enough energy and fun to bludgeon more unlikely followers!

Simply put, Los Peyotes are superb. "El Corredor Quemado" is a furious surf brawl filled with Dick Dale type tremolo that leans towards The Cramps, but Victor la Pantera's farfisa sometimes feels like the waves rolling in rythmically and at other times feels like an all out pounding. One of the few songs on the album in English, "Action" is a great shot of Sonics inspired beats with more fuzz than you find on month old bread sitting on top of your refridgerator. Surprisingly, it's another fine example that the best garage rock is being made today. "El Humo te Hace Mal" is an all out riot! Forget that one might not know what the lyrics mean, you'll be screaming along to "Yeah!" and trying to sing along with the words and joining in on the screams just because you can't help it! As if it wasn't already good enough, the beat picks up with a true punk rock bass intro courtesy of Oscar Hechomierda in the middle that ends up in a frenzy.

It's not only fitting that around Halloween, one reviews a pack of guys who dress up and play some of the ghouliest, zombie garage rock around, but one also gets the added benefit of "Vampiro," another English song that one can barely discern, but falls somewhere between a good organ groove combined with Pablo Bambam's pounding, a really cool touch of David Peyote's maracas, but an overall feel that's almost "Secret Agent Man" with Rolando Bruno's surf guitar that's just a bit cooler. The treat goes further with guitar/scream frenzy of "Scream" that's enough to wake the dead! The final injection of creepy crawlies is found on the eerie farfisa organ of "La Malvada Creacion del Dr Ilusion" and bolts of guitar fuzz that will put anyone in Frankenstien's lab.

"El Entierro de los Gatos" is a a great surf song, but the punctuation is from the organ. Very '60s, indeed. "Psicosis V" is aptly titled with enough surf tremolo and fuzz to put one into a psychosis. The theramin gives it a magic potion veneer, too. Los Peyotes then get back down to primitive Stones style garage on "Back Come To Me" that's enough to impress even the staunchest of purists, while "I Don't Mind" had a more "Knights of Fuzz" take that only serve to prove that these guys that ought to put anyone into the mood for a perfect freakout.

In fact, everything about these guys is garage freakout! "Serial Killer" plays like a surf zombie movie while "Connection" is an almost British Invasion sound through a tube amp! The closing "No Puedo Hacerte Mia" is about the closest thing one gets to a love song from Los Peyotes, but it's more of a solitary lament on an an empty beach that sounds more like California than anywhere in South America.

Introducing Los Peyotes is a true garage rock fest with ghouls, zombies, surf, and more fuzz and farfisa than anyone could muster into one album. One could only imagine how lucky anyone was to be able to see them. The music sounds raw and a whole lot of fun. As great as the album is, one gets the feeling that the live experience of Los Peyotes is exponentially better. The music is in the spirit of pure fun that I'm sure everyone who saw them fell under a hallucinogenic dance. Los Peyotes are scheduled for their next live show in Buenos Aires in November 15th. Hopefully, as many of us as possible will get a chance to see them in the near future. In the meantime, Introducing Los Peyotes is a slab of '60s style vintage garage rock worth having and playing over and over.